Balls fired. Yes, maybe all the work of Needham and resembles a solid self-repeat - but what a cheerful and reckless self-repeat! For example, 'Race 'Cannonball' - it is similar to almost all known films Needham at once, but here - a surprise - on the main roles highlight just a lot of different popular faces. Which, as I understand it, have eaten up a significant part of the budget, because the tricks and special effects here will be purely automotive - almost nothing will explode and collapse. But this is not a problem at all - the tape and without it turned out to be a cheerful, unstressful, positively sunny circus in the best Needham traditions - the main problem, in my opinion, is different here.
Excessive number of characters often smears the action, you simply begin to forget or get confused, who is what and where. Especially this sin the first pre-race half-hour dedicated to the presentation of the characters - it came out confused and unfocused. Some riders could be safely removed from the action, such as two rednecks on a jeep, Texans on a red car (who are somewhere in the half of the film dropped out of the main action) and guys on a motorcycle - the latter will serve as an indirect reason for starting a cheerful and fenced fight closer to the final, but scab - reasons to start a fight (especially with bikers!) you can find a shitty cloud using already existing heroes.
Well, the musical accompaniment here is not as memorable as in Smokey and Bandit 1-2, Hooper or Cactus Jack. There are a couple of good songs, but they do not stand comparisons with the above works. And so, if you look at the rest of the parameters - there is nothing more clearly negative here - except that it is noticeable that Needham is still quite self-repeating, but I will - sorry - close my eyes to this and call it a corporate director's trait. Same thing, same thing. Humor, stunts, actors: while it works, you can go. Well, the critics are always unhappy - but who did they surrender to?
The only difference in the field of innovation, perhaps, were the above-mentioned actors - Martin and Davis Jr. received colorful roles (pity, nothing was sung for the soundtrack), the appearance of Jackie Chan rejoiced like a baby, almost fell out of laughter when he began to watch Behind the Green Door, well, and Adrianne Barbeau with her old friend - chic breasts - also showed up here. But Fara Fawcett, who played a kind of female lead - for me, what she would be, what she wouldn't be - the weather wouldn't have changed completely. At least the usual Reynolds-De Luis her significantly scored in terms of characters and acting as such. Farah, so to speak, did not light up (and, what is the joke?) Okay, I'm not kidding. Oh yes, and Moore, Roger Moore – dissecting my heart on a diamond – the same Aston Martin – he is very staunchly and effortlessly parodying his iconic role – not that it was genius, but Roger’s self-irony is definitely not to occupy.
Not opening any Americas and working on the same moves and clichés, Needham's film was not conceived as a kind of new genre-turning explosion - just a bright, windy, not insulting the intellect of the car comedy, personally to me - for example - lifted the mood, although today it was just the deadliest. Hal Needham at his most typical.
8 out of 10